Chatbots can help clinicians become better communicators, and this could boost vaccine uptake
By: Reshma Ramachandran, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Yale University Mass layoffs at the Department of Health and Human Services are continuing as the agency makes good on its intention, announced on March 27, 2025, to shrink its workforce by 20,000 people. Among workers dismissed in early April were several teams responsible for fulfilling requests for […]
The federal government wants to boost productivity. Science can help
By: Deanna D’Alessandro, Professor & Director, Net Zero Institute, University of Sydney and Kate Harrison Brennan, Director, Sydney Policy Lab, University of Sydney In the wake of Labor’s resounding victory in Australia’s federal election earlier this month, there has been much talk about flailing productivity in Australia. In fact, last week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Treasurer […]
Real-time crime centers are transforming policing – a criminologist explains how these advanced surveillance systems work
By: Kimberly Przeszlowski, Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice, Quinnipiac University In 2021, a driver in Albuquerque, New Mexico, ran a red light, striking and killing a 7-year-old and injuring his father. The suspect fled the scene and eventually escaped to Mexico. Using camera footage and cellphone data, the Albuquerque Police Department’s real-time crime center played a crucial […]
Predictive policing AI is on the rise − making it accountable to the public could curb its harmful effects
By: Maria Lungu, Postdoctoral Researcher of Law and Public Administration, University of Virginia The 2002 sci-fi thriller “Minority Report” depicted a dystopian future where a specialized police unit was tasked with arresting people for crimes they had not yet committed. Directed by Steven Spielberg and based on a short story by Philip K. Dick, the […]
When AI plays favourites: How algorithmic bias shapes the hiring process
By: Asit Kumar Mishra, Research Fellow in School of Public of Health, University College Cork A public interest group filed a U.S. federal complaint against artificial intelligence hiring tool, HireVue, in 2019 for deceptive hiring practices. The software, which has been adopted by hundreds of companies, favoured certain facial expressions, speaking styles and tones of voice, […]
Generative AI is most useful for the things we care about the least
By: Kamran Mahroof, Associate Professor, Supply Chain Analytics, University of Bradford Generative AI tools such as ChatGPT and Midjourney can produce text, images and videos far more quickly than any one person can accomplish by hand. But as someone who studies the societal impacts of AI, I’ve noticed an interesting trade-off: The technology can certainly save time, but it […]
From anecdotes to AI tools, how doctors make medical decisions is evolving with technology
By: Aaron J. Masino, Associate Professor of Computing, Clemson University The practice of medicine has undergone an incredible, albeit incomplete, transformation over the past 50 years, moving steadily from a field informed primarily by expert opinion and the anecdotal experience of individual clinicians toward a formal scientific discipline. The advent of evidence-based medicine meant clinicians identified the […]
Is AI dominance inevitable? A technology ethicist says no, actually
By: Nir Eisikovits, Professor of Philosophy and Director, Applied Ethics Center, UMass Boston Anyone following the rhetoric around artificial intelligence in recent years has heard one version or another of the claim that AI is inevitable. Common themes are that AI is already here, it is indispensable, and people who are bearish on it harm themselves. […]